Apparatus for checking workmen&#39;s time.



Patented Jan. 23, I900.

.lfi o o F. W. MAES.

APPARATUS FOR CHECKING WORKMENS TIME.

(Application filed. Feb. 11, 1899.)

(No Model.)

THE Nunms Pzrzn: co. PHOTO-LITNQ. wuumsmn. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRIEDRICH VVILHELM MAFS, OF ISERLOHN, GERMANY.

APPARATUS FOR CHECKING WORKMENS TIME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 641,874, dated January 23, 1900.

Application filed February 11, 1899. Serial N0. 705,261. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRIEDRICH WILHELM MAI-is, a subject of the King of Prussia, Em peror of Germany, residing at Iserlohn, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germ any, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Checking VVorkmens Time, (for which I have applied for patents in England, dated December 13, 1898, No. 26,375; in France, dated December 14, 1898; in Belgium, dated December 14:, 1898, and in Germany, dated December 6, 1898,) of which the following is a specification.

The various devices for checking workmens time that have hitherto been employed are all of such a complicated construction that the high selling price of the same consequent thereon has no doubt been the chief cause why these apparatus have heretofore only come into comparatively very restricted use.

Now the present invention has for its obj set to provide a checking apparatus the main mechanism of which is of such simplicity in its general arrangement as in its details that its manufacture can be effected at extremely low cost. In order to effect this object, the following principle is to be employed: Upon a rod, rule, or the like, which is moved along with a uniform velocity, there is slipped loosely upon it a sleeve or the like in such a manner that this sleeve will move along with exactly the same velocity as that which is imparted to the rod. If now a lever which is pivoted on an axle be brought into immediate proximity to the moving rod or to the sleeve mounted thereon in such a manner that when a pressure is exerted upon one end of this lever the other end will bear against the sleeve situated on the rod, then the forward movement of the sleeve will cease, while the rod itself will continue its movement with its original velocity. If, further, the velocity of the rod be made such that when the rod has moved along through a unit of length this length will correspond to a definite period of time, then by the stoppage of the sleeve relatively to the moving rod a means is provided which allows of ascertaining at once when said stoppage took place, so that .ing, terminate upwardly in knife-edges.

a check is thereby provided without further trouble.

Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings illustrate a construction of one arrangement of an apparatus for checking workmens time which operates on the above-described principle and which is arranged as follows: In the front wall A of a casing or boX A or the like there are arranged a number of small levers a, which are pivoted on a spindle a and the front ends a of which form hooks, while the other ends a that are situated in the cas- In immediate proximity above the latter there moves a prism-shaped or cylindrical rod 6, which is driven by clockwork or other means in a suitable manner and, being set in motion at a determined time, moves with a uniform onward velocity. On the periphery of this rod 1) there are slipped or mounted sheetmetal sleeves or carriages c or the like devices provided with a guide and having their lower surfaces 0 provided with notches or incisions 0 while on their front surfaces that are turned toward the wall A of the casing, there is provided a divided scale or series of divisions d, the graduations of which correspond to determined units of time-for example, each graduation representing a period of ten minutes and each notch corresponding to one division of the scale. The position of the lever on in its rest positionthat is to say, when the hook-shaped part a is not weighted by a token placed thereon-is bal= anced, say, by means of a counterweight or of a spring f in such a manner that the knifeedge a cannot influence the onward move ment of the rod nor that of the sleeve 0 by engaging in the notches 0 but if by the weight of a token m, which is hung upon the hook a the lever a a a is moved at d in a downward direction, then that part a of the lever a which is provided with the knife-edge will describe a movement of rotation in an upward direction, whereby in consequence of the engagement of the knife-edge a into a notch in the corresponding sleeve 0 a further movement of the latter with the rod will be stopped. The position of the sleeve 0 relatively to the rod 6 and the onward movement of the latter are so chosen that if the workman hangs up the token m that belongs to him punctually at the proper time or even before the said time on the similarly-numbered hook a and thereby moves the knifeedge a upward, the latter will engage with the sleeve 0 in front of the first notch in the latter and will prevent the sleeve from moving any farther; but if, however, the workman comes ten minutes too late, then the sleeve 0' will in the meantime have been moved farther along with the rod 19' and the knife-edge a can only engage (When the token m is hung up) in the first notch of the sleeve, so as to stop the latter. If the workman come, say, thirty minutes too late, the knife-edge will enter the third notch, and so on.

The drawings show, by way of example, that in the case of the two lower hooks the workman N0. 25 has arrived forty minutes late, while N o. 26 has arrived twenty minutes late. The divisions of time on the front side of the sleeve 0 must of course be rendered visible through apertures 0, which are provided in the wall A of the casing and are covered over by panes of glass n.

The mechanism which effects the onward movement of the rods Z and also the mechanism which returns the rods into their inig I en er tial position are of course immaterial as regards the nature of this invention and may consist of any simple clockwork.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In an apparatus for checking Workmens time, the combination of a rod or carrier having a regular forward movement, a carriage loosely mounted thereon and adapted normally to travel with said rod, means for detaining said carriage and means whereby the workmen can operate said detaining means, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus for checking workmens time, the combination of a rod or carrier having a regular forward movement, a carriage loosely mounted thereon and adapted normally to travel with said rod, said carriage being provided with a series of notches, a pivoted lever arranged to engage and disengage with said notches, and means Whereby the workman is enabled to operate said lever, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

FRIEDRICH WILHELM MAES.

Witnesses:

NIKOLAUS MEURER, WILLIAM H. MADDEN. 

